By Jan Wahl–
From Vito Russo’s The Celluloid Closet to Emily Leider’s Becoming Mae West to the recent He’s Got Rhythm: Gene Kelly by Cynthia and Sara Brideson, my life has been informed and inspired by stories of fascinating showbiz characters. So, when I had an opportunity to interview one of my favorite authors of books about the wild, wacky, and often weird people and times of Hollywood, I was there!
Eve Golden’s latest book is Jayne Mansfield: The Girl Couldn’t Help It. I will devour this one, with a personal interest since I attended Warner Avenue Elementary School with one of Jayne Mansfield’s daughters and my mother knew Jayne herself in the PTA. Mom loved Jayne, and amazingly, so did the other moms!
“Everyone loved Jayne,” says astute biographer Golden, “even if they didn’t respect her talent or career choices. I begin the book with the famous Sophia Loren party. Jayne was very intelligent. She had a drinking problem from the early 60s but it never affected her professionalism. Her bad choices in her life and career made you want to shake her.”
As with all of Eve’s books, the context and details of the times will be as exciting as the subjects themselves.
She continues to tell me for the San Francisco Bay Times: “My first book was on Jean Harlow (Platinum Girl: The Life and Legends of Jean Harlow). I was young and stupid, but got a good publisher and access to wonderful photos. I always put fabulous photos in my books, so if people think the writing sucks, I have great pictures. In this book I was able to disprove a lot of the nonsense about how she died … I had her medical records. She had certain taste in men, liking father figures and balding, paunchy guys. But William Powell was different. Once my friend Anita Page found Jean sobbing and asked why. Jean replied, ‘Anita, would you waste three years on a man?’ Anita replied, ‘Honey, I wouldn’t waste three days on a man.’ Jean was known as one of the nicest people in Hollywood, along with Marion Davies and Barbara Stanwyck.”
Eve adds, “People say I write about the tragic lives, and yes, early deaths do make for good reading. People love that s–t. But the irony is my best-selling book is on a person with a long, successful life, Vamp (The Rise and Fall of Theda Bara). My Goth Girls like Theda, and her life was of a nice, Jewish girl who reinvented herself into an exotic superstar. From the beginning, it was the studio system that allowed people to make it; I wish we had it today. The stars are just as talented and good looking today, but there’s no studio system backing them.”
I mentioned to Eve that Joan Fontaine told me the same thing, except for Nancy Reagan, who Joan thought was in it to meet and marry Ronnie. The divine Joan and I were discussing Kitty Kelley’s book on Nancy, and Joan referred to her as “knees Nancy.” “Makes sense,” she says. “I always thought Nancy was a Pez dispenser. If you tilt her head back, Pez comes out.”
Eve is funny, whether in her books or to chat with. She loves Classic Hollywood and tells wonderful Tallulah Bankhead stories. She tells of Tallulah at church and the priest comes down the aisle with robes and swinging burning incense. “’Darling,’ says Tallulah, ‘love the drag but your purse is on fire.’” She agrees that Elizabeth Taylor had a point when she famously said that there would be no Hollywood without gays and lesbians. Eve adds, “And Jews.” She is unafraid of controversy. “My thought is that Garbo could have been Trans. She called herself a man, preferred men’s clothing and was secretive and guarded. There’s no proving it, but it is what I think.”
There are laughs and high drama in my newest favorite of Eve’s books, The Brief, Madcap Life of Kay Kendall. Eve confirmed what I always heard about Professor Higgins. “Her husband, Rex Harrison, was such an a–hole. A complete, total a–hole. Nobody I could find had a nice word to say about him. But they loved sharpening their wits on each other. They made each other laugh. Kay had many gay friends, but it was a challenging time for them. Dirk Bogarde was so far in the closet that he was in the next apartment.”
Eve also knows how to have perspective. Her fascinating book Anna Held and the Birth of Ziegfeld’s Broadway explains why we are lucky enough to have Billie Burke in The Wizard of Oz, Topper and Dinner at Eight. Eve says, “Billie Burke was tough as nails, but was left with huge gambling debts when Ziegfeld died. She had to go back to work them off, and aren’t we lucky to have her performances?”
And aren’t we lucky to have Eve Golden, a writer of wit and wisdom? Her other books include Vernon and Irene Castle’s Ragtime Revolution, Golden Images: 41 Essays on Silent Film Stars, and John Gilbert: The Last of the Silent Film Stars. She’s my new best friend.
For more information about Eve Golden: http://evegolden.com/
Jan Wahl is a Hollywood historian, film critic on various broadcast outlets, and has her own YouTube channel series, “Jan Wahl Showbiz.” She has two Emmys and many awards for her longtime work on behalf of film buffs and the LGBTQ community. Contact her at www.janwahl.com
Published June 10, 2021
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